An extraordinary new exhibition celebrating the works of one of the 20th century's most influential artists opens at Blenheim Palace on July 18th.

Running until October 7th, Yves Klein at Blenheim Palace will be the most comprehensive exhibition of the visionary French artist ever staged in the UK in what would have been his 90th year.

Yves Klein was obsessed with just one colour: blue. He worked with a chemist to develop his own brand of paint, which he called International Klein Blue or IKB.

The paint had a particularly bright and intense colour, which visitors will be able to discover for themselves at the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Oxfordshire.

The new exhibition, which has been organised in collaboration with the Yves Klein Estate, will feature over 50 artworks including a large-scale blue pigment installation and a number of Klein's Monochrome Paintings which will be shown against the opulent backdrop of the Palace State Rooms and Great Hall.

Visitors will be able to explore Klein's wide-ranging practice, including painting, sculpture and large- scale installation.

He applied the paint to his pictures using rollers, sponges, and even people. Visitors will see the results of these artistic experiments in the ground-breaking Anthropometry series, for which Klein employed models as 'living brushes' to create marks on the canvas in front of an audience, as well as Fire Paintings and Klein's later works in gold.

Klein blended traditional artistic mediums and imagery with dynamic techniques and performance, erasing the boundaries between process and artwork. Sponge Sculptures, made from the sponges Klein painted with, saturated with pigment will be on show alongside other free-standing works inspired by Classical Greek sculptures such as a Venus de Milo, coated in IKB.

Blenheim Art Foundation, now celebrating their fifth anniversary year, continues to produce bold encounters between the world's most influential artists, the Palace, and new and recurring visitors.

The Foundation's award-winning programme has earned a reputation for pushing boundaries by inviting artists to engage directly with the palace's Baroque interiors and particular history, as well as showcasing some of the most iconic and seismic artworks and movements in art history, from Michelangelo Pistoletto's Arte Povera to Jenny Holzer's testimonies of war by contemporary veterans.

What: Yves Klein at Blenheim Palace When: Opening 18 July – 7 October

Why Visit: Discover over 50 artworks from an extraordinary artist in the unique and opulent setting of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Blenheim Palace
Admission: Palace, Park & Gardens Ticket: Adult £27.00 Concession £24.00 Child £15.50 Under 5s free

Website: blenheimpalace.com

ENDS

For more information please contact: Melodie Manners | melodie@flamingo-marketing.co.uk | 07815 709548 or 01637 873379

Notes to Editors

About Yves Klein and the Yves Klein Estate

Yves Klein (1928 – 1962) was a leading figure in European post war art and is considered a pioneer of conceptual art, performance art and minimalism, as well as pop art.

Klein was born in Nice, France, in 1928. He began to paint in the late 1940s and lived in Japan (1952- 53), whilst training in Judo. In 1955 Klein first began to exhibit his early monochrome paintings, which were presented at a solo exhibition at Galerie des Solitaires in Paris, where he earned critical acclaim and the name 'Yves the Monochrome'.

From 1957, Klein's practice largely involved the use of his own patented pigment 'International Klein Blue', which epitomized the works produced throughout his “blue period”. He then developed the Anthropometry series presented as a public performance in 1960, as well as his Fire Paintings in 1961-1962. Klein's radical performative work went on to include his Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility Zones (that were sold in exchange for gold bars, then tossed into the Seine River) and the iconic photograph Leap into the Void, which were considered precursors to the Happenings of the 1960s. Yves Klein passed away in 1962 at the age of 34, leaving behind a rich archive of major works, documents, writings, photographs, audio recordings, books and notebooks. The Yves Klein Estate, maintained by Rotraut Klein-Moquay (Klein's widow) and Daniel Moquay, aims to contribute further knowledge of Yves Klein's work, provide access for artistic and scientific research, and organise and participate in cultural projects.

About Blenheim Art Foundation

Blenheim Art Foundation, now in its fifth year, launched on 1 October 2014 to establish a new programme of contemporary art at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Offering visitors a unique opportunity to experience contemporary art in the historic setting of the palace and its celebrated grounds, the not-for-profit foundation aims to give the greatest number of people access to the most innovative contemporary artists working today. Previous exhibitions include Ai Weiwei at Blenheim Palace in 2014, Lawrence Weiner: Within a Realm of Distance in 2015, Michelangelo Pistoletto at Blenheim Palace in 2016 and SOFTER: Jenny Holzer at Blenheim Palace in 2017. www.blenheimartfoundation.org.uk

Twitter: @BlenheimArt | Instagram: @blenheimartfoundation Facebook: /BlenheimArtFoundation | Vimeo: /BlenheimArtFoundation

About Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace is the home of the 12th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. This masterpiece of 18th-century Baroque architecture boasts over 300 years of history and is a World Heritage Site surrounded by more than 2000 acres of Capability Brown landscaped parkland and formal gardens. Not only an iconic part of history, Blenheim Palace is also a living and changing experience with a wealth of events, themed tours and exhibitions throughout the year. www.blenheimpalace.com